Notre Dame Biology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Biology, General
- Private nonprofit university
- Notre Dame, IN
- About 80 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Notre Dame biology graduates earn about what biology graduates earn nationally, $32,876 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $20,750 in federal loans, less than at 80% of biology programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying biology degrees in Indiana.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Indiana and national columns are the medians across all biology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Notre Dame graduates earn more than the national figure and about $8,371 more than the Indiana median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana biology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Indiana medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 106% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $220 a month, or 8.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the South Bend area are about 7% below the national average, so a $32,876 salary here buys what about $35,405 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to biology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$61,880Median pay in Indiana. 20,430 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists
$81,110Median pay in Indiana. 2,010 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.
Natural Sciences Managers
$108,250Median pay in Indiana. 1,670 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Biological Technicians
$58,790Median pay in Indiana. 1,020 people work in this job in Indiana. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Notre Dame
Biology ranks 31st of 32 bachelor's programs at Notre Dame by first-year earnings. The top three are Finance ($99,222), Computer and Information Science ($96,517), and Other Mathematics ($89,689).
Other biology bachelor's programs near Notre Dame
Common questions
The median graduate earns $32,876 one year after graduating and $67,689 five years after. The median across biology bachelor's programs in Indiana is $36,161.
The median federal loan balance is $20,750, which ranks 3rd lowest of 17 biology bachelor's programs in Indiana. That works out to about $220 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 63% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 75%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Indiana programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Indiana comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the biology program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024